Читать книгу When Bad Things Happen in Good Bikinis - Helen Bailey - Страница 5

If you are reading this book because you have suffered loss, there is only one thing I want you to know: however you feel right now, however bleak your life is, however much despair you are in, you won’t always feel this way; on my dog’s life, I promise you.

I hope that you will read the entire book, but if you are at the stage when your mind is so wired you have the attention span of a hyperactive grasshopper and the energy of a banana slug*, put the book to one side, use it as a doorstop or a fly swat, but hold on to one thing: you will emerge from this tunnel of grief to live, laugh and, possibly, love again. Trust me.

You won’t believe me when I tell you that your life will be good again in ways that you could never have imagined. I didn’t believe it either. I had to live it to believe it. So if you are grieving right now and can’t see a way forward, hang on in there, it will all be OK in the end. Trust me, because I’ve been there, done that and bought the coffin. Trust me, because, like you, I’ve known what it’s like to have a mind so warped with grief and despair that I’ve screamed at the sky, prayed to spontaneously combust in M&S, and walked out into the traffic, tempting fate, only to be sworn at by a swerving cyclist.

When our world is ripped apart, we have to start again from scratch. Think of it as learning to ride a bike, a bike with a bent frame, flat tyres and dodgy brakes, across unfamiliar stony ground. Good friends, perhaps family and those who know first-hand the pain of bereavement will be beside you, encouraging you when you think you can’t do it, supporting you when you wobble, picking you up when you fall and steering you in the right direction when you veer off course. One day, you’ll realise that you are peddling on your own; you’ll look back and see a crowd waving and cheering as you speed off into the distance. The bike will never be perfect, but it will get you to where you need to go.

This is the story of my learning to ride that broken bike across the alien terrain of Planet Grief. If I can do it, so can you. I promise you.

Love,

* The banana slug is said to be the slowest mollusc in the world with an average speed of approximately 0.000023 metres/second, making a tortoise look like Usain Bolt in comparison.